


φ

by SimplexityJane



Category: American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: Bittersweet Ending, Dark Character, F/F, F/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-10
Updated: 2013-11-10
Packaged: 2018-01-01 02:28:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1039276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplexityJane/pseuds/SimplexityJane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He kisses her once before leaving.</p>
            </blockquote>





	φ

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: mentions of past rape/incest, not graphic. Non-graphic violence.

Here’s how it starts: When Misty meets Zoe (the first time, before ever laying eyes on her, meeting _soulsmindshearts_ , even if Zoe can’t remember it), her breath catches and she says _yes_ without thinking about it, power in her welling up and breathing out in Kyle, _hisbreathherbreathherbreaththeirbreath._ She sees Zoe’s face in her mind, and Kyle’s fear, and wills herself to the _citylouddeath_ even though it hurts. Because Zoe is hers and she is Zoe’s, _deadlivinggodsgodsgods_. And Kyle is theirs, theirs to protect, to keep, and Zoe can’t see that because she’s new, hasn’t passed through the Veil like they have.

Zoe takes Kyle, and Kyle comes back. He’s covered in blood and hurting (his momma did bad things, things Misty would have killed her for, should have, because Kyle is theirs to protect, to avenge). She takes him in her arms and doesn’t do anything but breathe with him. And Zoe needs her, but she can sit here and be there, acting through Zoe. Those zombies should stay dead, even if that _woman_ deserves to die. Sometimes things need to stay dead.

Then she feels it. One of _hers_ (not like Zoe is, of course, but no one’s like Zoe, not even Kyle, he doesn’t have the power to be one of them) is dying, then dead, and she can smell the stink of murder on the women around her.

 _Come with me_ , she says, and Myrtle follows. She’s covered in burns, but Mother Nature takes care of her own.

 _Potions maker, resurgence, clairvoyance, influence_ , Myrtle thinks. Then, _three more. The Seven Wonders._ That’s magic that she doesn’t think she has, fire and hurt that she isn’t capable of. Myrtle is missing one, though, the pulling herself through the world that she has. It’s scary how much Myrtle misses.

 _Why do you need a Supreme?_ she asks. She thinks she must be it, because Myrtle’s never heard of anyone bringing themselves back from the dead _except_ for Supremes, and even if Misty never uses the power she might have it, moves things with her mind like Jean Grey (that’s a secret, though, ‘cause Daddy would’ve beat her if he caught her reading _that trash_ ). Five powers means a Supreme, because no ordinary witch exists with that sort of power.

She won’t hurt people, though, and she doesn’t control them. Not really, not when it’s easier to persuade them.

The voodoo woman is hunting Zoe. That will not stand.

 _What’s a spell to stop a man’s heart?_ she asks Myrtle, seeing through Zoe’s eyes as she _runrunruns_. She wants to be there with her, to rip the man apart like she did those other hunters, but she can’t, not until the murderess is dead and she’s safe.

(Once upon a time a witch saw the ruination of her coven, and told her murderer the truth. She was right, that the coven that saw Fiona Goode rise to power would be ruined by her. But she was wrong about what would happen to that coven _after_ that ruin. She thought it meant death for witches, but she was wrong.

A coven ruined means a new one is born.)

He almost gets Zoe before Misty reaches through her, rips his heart out like that, with her hand and power. Fiona doesn’t see it but she feels it, and Misty knows, like she knew that she couldn’t go to that school, that Zoe needs to run.

So she does, because they’re connected, her and Zoe and Kyle, strings woven together, and she doesn’t have to dance to persuade her.

 _Misty, you can’t just keep me here_ , Zoe says. _E-even if you’re the new Supreme, you can’t._ She stares at Kyle, horrified, and Misty wishes she could explain it to Zoe without it hurting her or Kyle. So instead she thinks it, thinks it as hard as she can, because this isn’t really a power but she knows it’s possible, and shows Zoe Kyle’s scars.

 _Oh my god,_ Zoe says, and then she’s quiet. Myrtle treats her bruise-burns from the ropes, and Zoe cries into Misty’s shoulder. _Who does that?_ she asks.

 _Evil people,_ Kyle says, and he kisses Zoe’s cheek. _You didn’t know she was evil, and I didn’t know they were evil. It isn’t your fault._

They will protect each other.

(Here’s how it ends: Zoe kisses her and she kisses Kyle and they are happy, but not for long. Fiona and Marie Laveau both fear power and hate each other, and they’ll burn the world down before they admit that they need each other, but they do. Queenie dies because of them and Misty refuses to bring her back, refuses to do anything for someone who burned one of hers. Myrtle, weak until the end, succumbs to Fiona and kills Zoe. Misty kills her with fire, betrayed, and goes after Fiona. Because Zoe is dead and Misty couldn’t bring her back because of how Fiona killed her.

Kyle screams and screams and screams, and Misty wishes suddenly that she were dead. But the anger at Fiona Goode is worse.

 _Murderer,_ she wishes she could scream. Fiona is old and weak and powerless, compared to Misty, and Misty never, ever killed things that were weaker than her, but _Fiona destroyed Zoe_.

Misty doesn’t die, and that’s a punishment. She stares at the Council, the useless people who let a witch do all of this and never punished her, rips open their minds one by one and flays them until they’re no better than gibbering children, and she visits Marie, takes Zoe’s body with her. Kyle is as good as dead, silent as he is.

_Can you bring her back?_

_No, child, not with this curse on her_ , Marie says. If she were lying Misty would destroy her. _My power lies elsewhere_. If Zoe were alive she could make her immortal, untouchable, but she isn’t. It _hurts_.

They don’t burn her body. Zoe had been horrified by burning, had hated it more than any other execution. They bury her, her and Kyle, and even healed he’s not right, not like he was for that short time. He doesn’t want to leave her, but he needs to. He needs to be someone who isn’t Kyle, who can make a life even with those scars. She uses the old coven’s resources to get him an identity, Kyle Benson, who keeps his hair short and doesn’t smile like he should (he has a beautiful smile). He kisses her once before leaving, and Misty sobs for days in her bed.

But there are things to do. They need a better way to find witches, especially young ones with violent powers. They need to restructure the coven, treat it like the family that it should be for the students coming to the school, instead of some drifting island where women (and young men with power) compete to survive, cutthroat and terrifying.

That’s how it ends. It doesn’t, and Misty will always be empty, even with a house full of students to protect. People will tell stories about her and Zoe, the angels of life and death, and Misty will long for the day when the new Supreme begins presenting her powers, because then she’ll finally be able to die.)


End file.
